What It’s Really Like Living on ODSP

This is the start of a new series on ODSP — what it really means to live on it.

Brandon was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1993, but it took more than a decade before he was approved for ODSP in 2005. Getting on ODSP isn’t easy — it takes doctors, psychiatrists, and stacks of paperwork.

He finally got off in 2025, after 20 years on the system. In this series, Brandon talks about what it’s really like to get by — how you’re not “just sitting on your couch,” but constantly budgeting, relying on food banks, and counting down the days until the next cheque.